French Country Dresser Makeover

Today, we’re sharing a super simple French Country dresser makeover as we near the end of Week 5 of the One Room Challenge. 

As always, a big shout out and thank you to the One Room Challenge and media partner Better Homes and Gardens for hosting this bi-annual event.

If you’re new to the One Room Challenge, each week for the next 8 weeks, guest participants and featured designers will work to makeover their spaces from top to bottom.

To date, we’ve completed:

• Guest Bedroom Makeover Plans & Design Ideas (Week 1)
• How to Add Patina to a Metal Bed Frame (Week 2)
• Paint and Furniture Changes Progress Update (Week 3)
• How to Paint a Bathroom Cabinet Using General Finishes Milk Paint (Week 4)

I’m sure I say this every week but it’s really hard to believe it’s already Week 5!

We’ve made a lot of progress so far. But we still have a good ways to go if we’re going to get both the guest bedroom and bathroom makeover completed by the end of June.

8 weeks seems like such a long time but goodness gracious it flies by!

This week I’ve mainly been working to paint as many things as I possibly can, especially, in the bedroom. 

While this French Country dresser makeover isn’t a drastic change, I’m excited to knock it off the list. It means we’re one project closer to reaching our goal!

Dresser Makeover – Before…

I found this French Country dresser several years ago while out shopping with my mom. 

It’s very similar to the set she grew up with, so I was excited to find it for that reason.

And also because it has 9 drawers which is always a huge blessing when you live in a tiny island cottage without a lot of extra storage space.

Pieces like this are easy to paint. In fact, I painted this very piece white for my first One Room Challenge!

Then I painted it with Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in a color called Marzipan.

And earlier this week, I gave it a refresh with Americana Décor Chalky Paint in Primitive.

French Country Dresser Makeover – After…

The change is super subtle (think going from cream to white).

This guest bedroom is part of a suite of rooms that share a bathroom so I knew I would have to find a way to incorporate pale gray into the space from the very beginning.  

Primitive is one of those chameleon colors that can change tone or look different depending on the amount of sunlight in the room. So, keep that in mind if you want to try this color too. 

Sometimes it reads like pale gray linen, sometimes oatmeal, and sometimes it’s the color of dropcloth. 

After I painted two coats of Primitive onto the French Country dresser and allowed plenty of drying time between each coat, I sanded everything down with 120-grit sandpaper.

Then I accented all the raised portions of the dresser with Antique Gold Rub n Buff using the same technique I used in this post, How to Add Gold Accents to a French Farmhouse Dresser.

I still adore chippy furniture and for that reason alone, I didn’t seal this French Country dresser. 

You could definitely seal with a coat of clear furniture paste wax or even a coat of matte poly though if you don’t want your piece of furniture to risk chipping.

If you’re new to painting furniture, you can find our Back to Basics:  Chalk Painting Furniture 101 Guide here. 

As far as the hardware goes, they’ve worn well these past few years, so I kept the set completely intact.

Barn Door vs. Mirror Decisions…

I still can’t decide if I want to put the barndoor back on top of this piece or if I want to use this DIY European Farmhouse mirror.  I might just try them both and see how it goes. 

Whatever I wind up with needs to be able to work well with the pale pink paint color we chose for the top of the board and batten. I feel like they would both work, so we’ll see.

I’d love to hear your thoughts if you have any!

This weekend, I’m hoping to start building the bed crown from the window pediment.  It’s one of those DIYs that is holding up progress in other areas.  The antique iron bed is really heavy so we can’t put it together until the bed crown is installed and secure. 

Once it’s up, I’ll be able to make a final decision on the bed crown curtain fabric, the desk, and what color to paint the hutch and dresser combo I originally thought was going in the breakfast nook.  

After those decisions are made we’ll be able to make the bed, start bringing in some accessories and start working on the bathroom again.  

There are a lot of moving parts to take care of but I’m hopeful as we head into Week 6! Be sure to check out what other creative projects are happening over at the One Room Challenge here. 

Until next time, I’ll see you on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Many blessings,

CoCo